Tag Archives: China

China has put into combat service its new generation J-20 stealth fighter, a warplane it hopes will narrow the military gap with the United States, the Chinese air force said on Friday, making it operationally ready.

By Jack Kim SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Tuesday aired concerns over China’s activities in disputed areas of the South China Sea, noting that land reclamation continued even after talks began between their 10-member bloc and Beijing to agree a code of conduct. Meeting in Singapore, the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) welcomed the start of negotiations, while calling for restraint in activities and avoidance of any actions that may complicate the situation.

Mercedes-Benz has apologised for "hurting the feelings" of the people of China for quoting the Dalai Lama on Instagram. The German auto giant became the latest of several international companies that have backpedalled recently for offending Chinese consumers with advertising or information that clashes with Beijing's official position on Tibet and other Chinese-claimed regions. Mercedes' seemingly benign post to its official Instagram account showed a Benz on a beach before rolling white-capped waves. "Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open," the ad copy ran, citing the Dalai Lama, who is seen by Beijing as a separatist. "Start your week with a fresh perspective on life from the Dalai Lama," the carmaker wrote in the tagline. Mercedes' seemingly benign post to its official Instagram account showed a Benz on a beach before rolling white-capped waves The Zen post immediately drew criticism from Chinese internet users for quoting the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, whom Beijing accuses of being a "wolf in monk's robes" seeking Tibetan independence through "spiritual terrorism". The Dalai Lama has called for granting Tibetans greater autonomy within China, but not independence. While Instagram is blocked in China and inaccessible to most Chinese – and the post was penned in English – Mercedes-Benz quickly deleted the photo after the outcry and issued an apology on China's Twitter-like Weibo social media platform. "Even though we deleted the related information as soon as possible, we know this has hurt the feelings of people of this country," Mercedes said on its verified Weibo account on Tuesday. The post "published extremely incorrect information, for this we are sincerely sorry," the company wrote, without naming either Instagram or the Dalai Lama, or explaining what the offending post was about. "We have immediately taken real action to deepen our understanding of Chinese culture and values, including among our colleagues abroad, and in this way regulate our behaviour." China's foreign ministry applauded Mercedes' quick response on Wednesday, with spokesman Geng Shuang telling reporters: "Recognising and correcting one's mistakes is the most basic of ethics." Beijing "welcomes foreign companies to reap the opportunities of China's development but during this process we hope foreign companies can perform the most basic of compliance," Geng said. China's state media was less conciliatory, with the online edition of the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily running an editorial attacking Mercedes after it published an apology. Offending the sensitivities of Beijing has proven a problem for a number of foreign companies tapping the lucrative Chinese market. Earlier this year, a spate of brands came under government criticism for online material that listed Chinese regions such as Tibet and Hong Kong as separate countries. Marriott hotels even had its Chinese website and app blocked for a week by mainland authorities, while Spanish clothing giant Zara and Delta Air Lines were also called out. Trendy Japanese retailer Muji has also faced the wrath of what the foreign ministry called the "new era" of a "more confident and open" China. One of the retailers' in-store catalogues held a store location map which Beijing said omitted islands disputed with Japan. Last summer, British band Placebo was scheduled to perform at the Summer Sonic Festival in Shanghai – until they posted a photo of the Nobel winner on Instagram. The picture resulted "in a lifetime ban by the Ministry of Culture in China," the band said in another post acknowledging they would be unable to perform. "We apologise to all the fans who were hoping to see Placebo perform," it wrote.

BEIJING (AP) — China on Sunday criticized a U.S. government report that cast Beijing as a potential nuclear adversary and called on Washington to reduce its own much larger arsenal and join in promoting regional stability.

This also increases the maximum range by one kilometer, giving it an effective range of five kilometers. The HJ-9A improves the HJ-9 further, adding a millimeter wave (MMW) seeker to the missile, effectively making it fire and forget. Internal sources state that the HJ-9B’s seeker will be up to the PLA’s decision, whether to retain the MMW seeker or to return to laser guidance.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday warned countries in the Western Hemisphere to beware of Chinese investment, saying it is reminiscent of European colonialism. He also derided Russia for selling weaponry to unfriendly, authoritarian governments in the region.

Pope Francis is facing a complex row over the Vatican’s warming ties with Communist China, which have sparked a new war of words with a Hong Kong cardinal and growing bitterness among some Chinese faithful. Beijing and the Vatican severed diplomatic relations in 1951, and although ties have improved in recent years as China’s Catholic population has grown, they remain at odds over which side has the authority to ordain bishops. The Vatican relaunched long-stalled negotiations three years ago and now seems to be nearing concrete steps towards solving the major stumbling bloc of how to designate bishops.

BEIJING (AP) — China is again heating up the rhetoric against rival Taiwan, with a spokesman saying Wednesday that Taiwan's cancellation of added flights during the Lunar New Year holiday "hurt the feelings of people on both sides."